Licensing Decision

Today, I thought long and hard about the HiBRiD licensing. The decision comes down to the following questions:

What do I want to accomplish in publishing this game? Am I doing this to make boatloads of money? Will I have regrets if someone gets rich off of my idea?  So far I am considering this license:



This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Human Readable Version:

This is a human-readable summary of (and not a substitute for) the license.
Disclaimer

You are free to:
Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material
for any purpose, even commercially.

The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow these terms:

Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.

ShareAlike — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original.

No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.

It is open source but still ensures credit is given to those who contribute.

Whatya think?

A Blast from the Past: Live Journal: The State of Heroism Redux: Entry One

Well, I was doing my new year data consolidation and found my old LiveJournal blog. Since it is pretty much defunct and no one ever reads LiveJounral anymore, I figured I might as well transfer the HiBRiD-related posts from years past with you all and invite into my mind's eye in terms of creation of the HiBRiD game.

This was the first entry is dated 10.22.2004 @ 1011. I had originally planned the journal  to be written from the point of view of my favorite NPC, Dr. Markus Workman, but as time went on, I just used it as a creative outlet. So let's learn a little bit about the good doctor...

A New Age..and a Beginning...

My name is Dr. Markus Workman-Divendre

Here I find myself sitting before this great analytical engine with the ability to talk to the entire world but with naught to say.

Methinks I shall begin with a short bit about myself.

I come from a time long ago before many of your memories. A time of innocence and belief in love and the integrity and nobility of man.

I come from a world very much different from this one. A world where man's reason and intellect are cherished and his intentions are pure of heart.

I fell in love at 15 with one J'nel Rypienn and lost that love. That was when I was then taken from my world and unwillingly pushed into this one.

I searched for 35 years to regain that love again, then to find purpose for man's suffering, then to find god, then to find any semblance of decency or reason in men. And when I failed to find them, I found myself taken from my own time and unwillingly pushed into this one.

I had always been able to make jaunts through time and space since the age of 4. The jaunts bought me time when I needed it to make decisions, allowed me to easily make my way through school, and allowed me to learn at my own pace and develop a true love for knowledge. But when I lost J'nel, that control became inaccessible to me. While I could still jaunt and control it to some extent, I found myself unable to ever return to the place and time from whence I came.

I ended up on a world for which the inhabitants had no name, atop the smallest mesa of what was known as the Heisstisch tablelands, watching geckos and gilas seek out relief from the 50 degree centigrade sun. That was where and when I met my recently-passed friend, Tennyson.

And that is where and when this journal begins.

10 Montages Until GenCon #4: Guns Reloading

Yeah, you know you have done it at least once any time you have played a gun-toting character. I don't mean takin' down the enemy with either one or a hail of bullets. I don't mean pistol whipping a 1-hit mook into submission. I don't even mean fanning out your six shooter. I'm talking about that moment the director of the game looks at you, asks you, "what do you do?", and you just stare that director back in the eye, proudly announce, "CHICK-CHICK", make the motion of locking and loading whatever implement of death your character is wielding, and announce your witty dialog. For all of you that relish this moment at the beginning of each action scene, this montage is for you:

10 Montages Until GenCon: Montage #5:Private William Hudson Supercut

Aliens (the second Alien movie) by far was the only real HiBRiD-style movie of the franchise, as especially epitomized by John Paxton's character:

Taking this montage into consideration,  and after seeing Prometheus, I am convinced that the only thing that can save the franchise is Dwayne Johnson or a clone of Private William Hudson's character!!!

GenCon Indy 2013 Musings-Part Two: 2013 Takeaways

Takeaway 1: Team Directing

Four cons  and 8 years ago, I started embedding myself as a “ringer” in the game in an effort to help players new to the game get the hang of using Ite’ and the game system in general and to give my friend (and now second unit director) Matt Chimienti a chance to GM at a big con. This one little change really made a difference and brought new players into the game spirit. It also resulted in the first set of players returning to my games con after con. We continued to do this, with Matt and I switching off the role of “embedded player” and director, which as a result has resulted in multiple groups of returning players! (Thank you to all of you, by the way; it is always GREAT seeing familiar faces and giving you a great con experience…kinda feels like a family…)

While this worked great, we noticed that with two games a day relatively close together, we were not getting time to enjoy the con, eat meals, and just recuperate in general to provide the best game we could.

So, this year, in addition to the new timing (see Part One), we changed things up a bit. Matt directed the first half of the game (and I tagged him as the Second Unit Director) while I ran the final big finale action scene. We ended up running 5 games with no fewer than 6 players per game; 2 of them filled up to the capacity of 12! We had all levels of experience with the game with 2 of the sessions consisting of all new players and three of the games had players from games past.

The end result turned out splendidly. Matt and I found ourselves much more refreshed for each game, much less pressed for time, and way more ready to take things over the top! With the feedback we received, I think many of the players will agree it was a very good change.

Takeaway 2: Johnny Parkour: Intended Results

Matt and I wanted to have our own pregen this year rather than playing one of the leftovers as we have in the past, so we created a new character, Johnny Parkour. We gave him two different sets of skills, one reflecting my professional knowledge set (Biochemistry/Pharmacy) and one with Matt’s (Political Science/Law) so as to enable us to inject our own personal knowledge into the character.

We then gave him some extreme freerunning parkour skills so we could really demonstrate and push the system for the benefit of new players.

Finally, we gave Johnny the Presence: Obscurity aspect. This aspect makes it so that the baddies and minions ignored him completely. This freed him up to lead from an embedded position and to complete tasks the rest of the characters didn’t find interesting. For instance, to move the first action scene along, he always went to the cockpit to draw the action there. If the party wanted to fight in the arena, he would rescue the mission objective NPC; if the party wanted to rescue the mission objective NPC, he would distract the baddies until the party could get into position to open up their own special brand of whup@SS! 

The character worked really well as intended. Matt’s descriptions of how the union laws resulted in bad foley, editing, and camera work resulted in keeping the use of Ite’ consistent with the Genre and really helped build the atmosphere with the players. My own descriptions of the biological consequences of the venom and anatomically graphic death scenes resulted in the players really feeling the dangers of being buried knee-deep in poisonous vipers as well as led the players to taking delight in their own descriptions of rather graphic methods of dispatching the snakes.

Takeaway 3: Johnny Parkour: Unintended Results

This being said, there were also several other surprising results.

The first unintended result was that because Johnny’s actions were so reckless and larger than life, I could focus on developing a throwaway personality characteristic of the other main NPC. Odin Johaansen. While Odin was originally just a “I want to save my sister” type of character, there were several games where I was able to take a few actions to really role-play the love he had for his sister. This played well with the group and actually glued the two NPCs for the players, giving some purpose and conclusion to the game. No one complained it was sappy or over the top, so I think it was a great way to end those games. It almost brought me to tears once or twice as well. What can I say; sibling love is much more challenging and satisfying to bring to a table than sibling rivalry, which is nothing more than a trite trope.

The second surprise result came as a result of the both of us playing the same character differently. Johnny’s actions were crazy and high profile when I played him at the beginning of the game session (I played him with an annoying accent, impulsive demeanor, and a complete disregard for logical action). Once we switched chairs (from embedded player to director) however, his actions were much less so as Matt played him at the end of the game. By the third game, we noticed that this created an almost synergistic effect on what we wanted to accomplish. Johnny would get the players ridiculously pumped for the first scene, I would just run him along the trees to pull the characters to the forefront in the second scene, and by the third scene, he would fade into the background, which allowed the players to really shine. This worked so well that we will carry Johnny forward to GenCon 2015!!!!

Name Change: A Reversion?

I was working on the final logo these past two weeks, so I can get the Kickstarter Project moving along. While sketching, I found myself STILL calling the game HiBRiD; my kids were calling the game HiBRiD; my players still call the game HiBRiD.

Which got me to thinking. Since the other Hybrid piece of feces is gone, I believe I can still keep the name HiBRiD for the actual game system and bill it as featuring the Ite' Gaming Engine. SO as of now:

HiBRiD now stands for Heroic Ite'-Based RPG In Development. It is the trademarked game system that will be registered.

Ite' is a trademarked term that will be registered.

IGE will stand for the Ite' Gaming Engine.It is the trademarked game system that may be registered.

Cinema20 is the term that I will personally use conversationally for the modules I will publishing for use in games featuring Cinematic Action Heroes. It is a trademarked game line that I may register, depending on how much time I find myself with.

Also, here are the sketches of the Floating Ite' coins:

GenCon Indy 2013 Musings-Part One: A Reflection on 2011 Takeaways

I got back from Gen Con Indy 2013 over a week ago. Once again, I came back with a number of takeaways. With the actual rules done, I find that most of them will, for the first time, actually go into the Director’s Handbook rather than the Player’s Guide as directing techniques rather than rules changes.

Since several of my takeaways from this year were related to those from last year, I will post these takeaways in two installments. This first installment will primarily be a review of the 2011 takeaways. My next post will be all new 2013 takeaways. So on we go…

2011 Takeaway 1: The Initiative System

In 2011, I made a change to the initiative that felt like the right thing to do by simply giving the bad guys one number and breaking the round into 3+1 phases: Surprise, Faster, Even With, and Slower than the bad guys. My original fear was that players would lament the loss of the old school feel of individual initiative. But, like most fears, they were irrational and unfounded. Instead, it created fast-paced action for the players and allowed me and Matt, my Second Unit director, to really control the pace of the action scenes. Even with 12 players (see Takeaway 2 below).

2011 Takeaway 2: Game Session Player Limits
(Hereafter to be referred to as The Art of Scheduling moving forward)

In 2011, I had considered changing scheduling from 4 games of 12 players to 5 games of 8 players, with game times at 0800 and 1400.  This was to accommodate low player turnout at lunch times, the overall din of the gaming rooms, and to try to tap the evening gaming phenomenon where people want something to do at night.

Instead, I mixed the old scheduling with the new proposed scheduling. I kept the 0800 time schedule, but shifted the evening game to 1800. Instead of limiting table size to 8 however, I kept it at 12, but still increased the number of sessions to 5. The new scheduling scheme filled over 80% of the slots, with no sessions of fewer than 6 players. Moving forward, this will be how we will schedule all games in the future.

2011 Takeaway 3: Single Genre Events
(Hereafter to be referred to as Pre-generated Characters moving forward)

The desire to play movie action heroes is stronger than I thought. Per last year’s takeaway, I continued to only run scenarios in the Action genre. This year, however, though I added a number of the eighties characters I had mentioned in 2011 (Patrick Swayze, Mr. T.), I went ahead and added the few from the Nineties characters I had mused on as well. (Jason Statham, Samuel L Jackson and Vin Diesel).

After directing and playing in the resulting games, it would seem that the decade of the film really didn’t seem to matter; the Genre of “Action Film” and overall mood of the players overruled any differences. As a result, I will continue to stay true to the Action Film genre moving forward with disregard for decade.

I also deviated from the 2011 takeaway, in that I did not add Michael Biehn, Christian Slater, John Travolta, or Nicholas Cage. Instead, I added a Hulk Hogan/Rowdy Roddy Piper mix, and Wesley Snipes. I was not disappointed; though no one chose Patrick Swayze, all of the sessions had at least three or more of the new characters! I also added Johnny Parkour as a character, reserved for the directors as and embedded character (more on that in my next post Part Two: 2013 Takeaways)

We had requests for William Shatner (not within Genre), as well as more female characters.

While I know everyone wants to play William Shatner, he is a one-trick pony and not really keeping with the spirit of the pregens, which is that they are amalgams of multiple characters AND the actor himself. I have no intention at this time…regardless of the fact he was in T. J. Hooker...of adding him. Another veteran in a similar vein is Sean Connery, but given the current outline of the 2015 scenario, he might fit into that event quite nicely...

As for female characters, the only three I feel I can add would be Pam Grier, Angela Mao, and Cynthia Rothrock. The problems with these actresses is that they are so sub-genre specific that they might be difficult to generalize. One female character requested was Ripley from Aliens, but again, she is kind of a one trick pony. I think an amalgam of Ripley, Sarah Conner, and the main character in the lame movie Prometheus (Google two bald guys in Mokena for a rundown of this horrible movie that was a waste of ATP and life experience) might work, but my concern is the specificity with the Science Fiction Genre that will not translate to Eighties Action heroes…Now Michael Biehn, on the other hand…

So, in the end, I am currently looking at adding Michael Biehn, Black Dynamite, Embittered Female Badass, Sean "Veteran Spec Op" Connery, and Dwayne Johnson. Dawyne Johnson may not make the cut however, as his role is filled by Arnold and Vin, and he is only required in movies when a franchise needs to be saved…and Cinema20, I am sure many of you will agree, is far from needing saving…

10 Montages Until Gen Con: # 6:-Team America Montage

Team America is by far one gigantic Cinema20 game scenario (GenCon 2017 maybe?). Not just in design, but the tongue-in-cheek humor, the ridiculing of sterotypes and genres, and the novel use of puppets as novel twist on an older concept! I really should put this whole movie on here, but since we are just looking for quick snippets, I offer the Montage montage scene from Team America. Again, the gravelly rock-and-roll voice and cheesy American tropes really just make this clip groove me and makes me want to spend some Ite': 

10 Montages Until Gen Con: #7-Big Trouble in Little China Supercuts

I started adding the new characters for GenCon 2013 today, and once again got all pumped up. In my fit of gaming-induced epinephrine-fueled working session, I remembered several fanboy montages that have been sent to one of my friends (and stalwart game supporter/playtester) Ben, the man responsible for the first HiBRiD/Cinema20/Ite' Gaming Engine quote "Because a natural 20 just looks cool").

I wanted to present a montage of montages to Big Trouble in Little China, because this one movie is the main inspiration of the GenCon events since 1994 as well as in my directing style. It was the movie that led me to drop all of my fantasy events at GenCon, including those in the Namenelos Welt. It was the movie that inspired me to add rules for guns. mix Genres, leave the Dungeons and Dragons/traditional wargame feel of roleplaying games behind. It was the movie that inspired me to replace the concepts of rounds, attacks per round, initiative phases, and all the pace-killing mechanics behind in the game and just stick to conducting the game in broad, loose "action scenes" where kicking ass and describing macho action became the norm rather than just rolling damage!It exemplifies the humor, action, and use of Ite' like few other movies! While there have been humor-based role playing games (Tales from the Floating Vagabond, The Adventures of Baron vn Munchausen, Toon, et cetera), I always preferred the humor to be more subtle and in the improvisational hands of the players rather than being forced and trite like in those games.

As without further adieu, let's look at a few...

"What the Hell?"

I am constantly quoting Big Trouble in Little China. And I don't just quote the words, but the voice, timbre, timing et cetera of the actors in the movies as well. From "Light's Green, you can go" to "What the Hell?", the timing of all of the actors in this movie is just fan TAS  tic! And while the not-so-clever-though-I-think-I-am-a-clever-writer-because-I-am-publishing-something-on-the-internet-oh-I-am-so-pretentious-and-clever-did-I-say-I-am-clever comments for the first ten seconds ad absolutely NOTHING to this clip, it is a great example of Kurt Russell's subtle combination of swagger and angst that really helps define his character:

Light Comin' Out of His Mouth

This next montage has such a catchy soundover that my kids and I are constantly singing it on road trips (minus the swearing, of course!). Come on...(you must be doing something seriously wrong, Dave...oops...you know, I really can't help but quote this flick...it's sooooo addictive! :) )...you KNOW you all want to sing along with this one:

Just a little sidebar before I move on to the next montage: I actually had an NPC with the Presence Aspect: Intimidation: Light coming out of his mouth once. The players just went around looking for a semitruck for 30 minutes in a Canyonside playtest looking for a truck to drive "straight THROUGH him". Twelve points of Ite' later (talk about player collaboration!), my NPC met his demise via a Piggly Wiggly tractor-trailer truck...*sniff*...and we move on...

Theme Song by The Coupe DeVilles

Speaking of catchy Big Trouble songs my kids love to sing, this next montage that is actually the video for the theme song of the movie for those few of you who didn't know that yes, there really WAS a music video (hell, EVERYone was doing them back in the eighties!). It's great because John Carpenter's voice is so haunting, and his backup singer's falsetto is such a contrast that it makes me laugh:

Well, if you have any favorite clips, feel free to comment and post them here..The con is only a few weeks away, and my tank can always use a little inspiration...

10 Montages Until Gen Con Number: # 8-Al Leong Death Scenes

While this one is not a montage from one movie but an amalgam of many, it by no means is any less owrthy of the HiBRiD game. This is a montage some compiled of Al Leong dying again...and again...and again...

I first realized his penchant for dying when I saw Big Trouble in Little China for the 5th or 6th time when I was 19.  I thought I was the only guy that noticed Al's presence in every frickin' 80s action movie where they needed a badass Asian bad guy that could seriously kick ass and trade blow with the best of them.

The only real question I have, is why was he not in Expendables 2. It is for this fact alone I believe they need to make an Expendables III, just to have Al back. Hell, they should at the very least dedicate a movie to him!

10 Montages Until Gen Con: Number 9-Bloodsport: Fight to Survive

This montage makes me want to give someone a bloody nose. Really. Look how many bloody noses there are in this sequence. Even flim-flam-the-monkey-man-cracking-guys'-heads-open-like-a-coconut guy is giving guys bloody noses.

With Stan Bush's macho gravelly 80's synth-rock, Jackson's heaving guys off the mat and telling them to "go home!", and such a high density of ass-kicking in this little 2-minute montage, it seems next to impossible to fight the urge to get up right from this chair and go and give someone a bloody nose with my knee...